Mary-Kae
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or any other shows.
Chapter 1 – Slayer, Huh?
As the new king passed through, the girl thought how fortunate it was for him to be in a carriage, for surely the rabble of peasants would have squashed him flat in their excitement.
While he gazed around at his subjects lazily, he spotted a young girl, who was not cheering and waving and stretching out towards him like the others there. No, this girl wasn't even looking at him! 'What mockery is this!' thought the king angrily, and with that final thought he cried 'Stop the carriage! Stop the carriage!'
Almost immediately the peasants started muttering, whispering in confusion. Of course the nobles and his advisers who where nearby or with him, did not. Although many of them did look at him as to ask him why.
At the same time, to the king's fury, the girl looked up for the first, time as if she had only just realised that he was there. But, even more to his loathing, she did not raise more than her head, and her gaze, which lingered on him just long enough to make him notice. Her body, beautiful and elegant as it clearly was, still stayed in the same bored uptight and yet gorgeous position of leaning against a tree trunk, whilst bending over slightly, like before.
To his great disliking, the king found himself wanting to see her face clearly, for most of it was hidden under long silky locks of golden-brown hair. And, to make matters worse for the poor king, he now found that knowing her name was of the utmost importance to him. He then realised that he was hating to love her.
'What is it my lord?' asked his favourite adviser, Sir Malcolm Deltfort, 'what is it?' He was the king's favourite, because he was clearly completely loyal, and yet he did not parade it, thus making himself and his king vulnerable to the rebel Catholics, that were still faithful.
'Tell my men not to let that girl get away. The one leaning against the tree.' the king mused thoughtfully, 'and clear a line through those peasants, I don't want to have to go within a metre of those scumbags.'
'As you wish sire.' Came the obedient reply. 'Is there anything else I can…?' But he was silenced with a look before he had a chance to finish.
Meanwhile, the guards had started to make their way over to the girl through the crowd. While she still stayed in the same position, the king was sure that she was aware of them coming. As the guards drew close to the end of the crowd's reach, James wondered if she was going to move at all, but then the girl stood. She stood up, moved away from the tree, and looked at her opponents for a few seconds.
'Five against one,' she called, and James knew she meant him, ' great, just what I need to liven things up. This should be fun - and quick.' The next thing the king knew, the girl had moved swiftly into a defensive posture.
Two of the guards rushed at her, but she jumped nimbly out of their path, causing them to knock each other out. But another two had sneaked up behind her, and grabbed her, one getting her just below the shoulders, the other catching her around the knees. The girl let out a shrill cry of surprise and started to struggle and pull away from her captors. But it was to no avail. As the last guard came and tied her ankles, wrists, arms and legs together, she fell silent at last.
As the king stepped down from his carriage, and made towards his prisoner, he shot a nasty smile in her direction. In reply the young girl glared at him and started to struggle again. James signalled to the 5th guard, he went over and pulled her up so that her feet dangled a few feet above the ground.
'Now…' started the king, looking her up and down, inspecting her closely. Once he saw her closer, he found that she wore a long brown skirt, down to her ankles that appeared nearly new. She wore a fawn-coloured top, which had flared sleeves from the elbow downwards. On her feet were high, black boots. He could not see how high they were, for they were hidden under the skirt, but he suspected that they were about knee high.
'Now…' he began again, stepping back, not taking his eyes off her beautifully perfect body, 'Who are you? How did you know how to knock out two of my best men? And why did you even resist in the first place?' he gushed out quickly, covering his need to know her name fairly well, but not perfectly. 'Not like her body…' he thought unwillingly.
The girl looked at him in astonishment, and cried 'you are asking me why I resisted! Tell me, what would you do if 5 guards suddenly came at you for no reason?' The crowd gasped at her response – this was their new king she had just insulted, she would probably hang for this.
But to the people's surprise the king only chuckled and said to the girl; 'quite understandable - I suppose, now tell me your name and I'll let you live.' He silently prayed that she would not suspect him, for he would have no choice but to hang her if she refused.
Almost as if she had read his mind she replied to him, 'my true name, I do not know. But they call me Mary-Kae. It is the only name I have, I am an orphan.' She lifted her head up as high as it would go, whilst still holding him in her gaze, as if defying him in some way.
The king merely nodded and smiled. He paused for only a brief second before calling out to the guards, 'put her on the front of my carriage at once. Oh, and make sure she'll stay there, we don't want her to get away now, do we?' And with that he turned his back on her and strode back to her carriage.
As soon as he turned away, the girl, Mary-Kae, started to shout and protest and struggle again, but yet again it did her no good. As the chief guard, (the 5th) carried her, still bound and helpless, towards the carriage, she squirmed even harder, and even tried to bite the ropes. When the guard had carried her through the crowds of peasants, he dumped her on the front ledge of the carriage, and began to fasten her with the strongest rope he could find. When he was assured that there was no way she could escape, he went round to tell the king that she was ready.
There he found that he'd moved forward, where he was able to look down upon her. A nod from the king told him that he already knew that she was secured.
'Onward! To London we go!' cried the king heartily, receiving a mighty cheer from the crowd.
'And yet when you get there, the crown will surely not fit upon your huge head!' shrilled Mary-Kae to him, holding her head high again. Again the crowd gasped at her insolence. The king glared down at her, but 'tsked' in reply, mocking her in a way, but so that only they would know it.
When they were only one small town away from London, they stopped for the night. There was a small inn near the edge of the town, where not many people went, so they decided to stay there. Strangely enough, the king asked to be with the girl for the night, for he wanted to question her, or so he said. It was clear that the king enjoyed the girl's company, for he had been talking to her for most of the day. As Sir Deltfort turned to the king, ready to demand an explanation for his strange behaviour, he came face-to-face with none other than Mary-Kae.
'W-what do you want?' gasped Deltfort in surprise. He had not trusted the new-found companion since he had first seen her.
But Mary-Kae just smiled sweetly and asked 'I'm sorry Sir Deltfort, did you wish to see his Highness?'
'You know what I want you foul, evil little witch!' whispered Sir Deltfort defiantly, 'release the king from your spell at once!'
Mary-Kae made to retort angrily, but before she had a chance, King James strolled through the doors and beckoned to Mary-Kae to follow him. She smirked at Sir Deltfort and walked calmly up to him, where he offered her his arm. She curtsied neatly and took it gladly, and then, to Sir Deltfort's dismay, the king led her into their room.
Less than a minute later, Deltfort heard a shriek, coming from King James' and Mary-Kae's room. He spun around just in time to see the king slip out the door, and swiftly turn the key in the lock. No sooner than he had done so, Mary-Kae started to bang against the door, shrieking and screaming in terror.
'What a dreadful racket.' King James observed, 'anyone else would have thought she was about to be sentenced to death!'
'Uh, and is she Sire?' asked Sir Deltfort tentatively. He would be so relieved if she was to be hanged, then he would sleep in peace.
'Certainly not!' exclaimed the king angrily, 'Mary-Kae is to be treated with the utmost respect and care, whilst she is staying with me. She will have never tasted better food, drank better wine, and had better treatment whilst she is here. I want her to be pampered to the finest detail. Do you understand me Deltfort?'
'O-o-of course sire, I was merely asking, as you can never tell what is going through your keen, quick and resourceful mind.' Deltfort stammered quickly, hoping, praying even, that his flattery would please the king.
Luckily for him it did, but not completely. Deltfort could tell by the way the king turned away, rather than thanking him for the complement, because that meant that he wasn't happy with someone. And Deltfort would bet anything that that someone was him.
As Deltfort left the room, the royal dressmaker came in, carrying what seemed to be about fifteen magnificent, jewelled dresses. A servant also came in through another door; she took the dresses from the maker, and stood behind the king, waiting for orders.
King James unlocked the door, and went inside to find Mary-Kae sat down on the bed opposite, waiting.
'I have something for you, my dear.' Announced the king grandly, standing to the side to let the servant through. Mary-Kae's eyes lit up in wonder when she saw the dresses.
'The grand collection of Queen Elizabeth I.' James told her, smiling, 'all for you, pick the ones you wish to have, and they're yours. Oh, do you mind if I watch, by the way?'
'Oh, oh thank you!' she cried happily, 'oh, of course you may stay! It is you who is giving me them, after all!'
So the king settled himself on the bed and shut the door. Mary-Kae darted behind the screen, which had been brought in, and began to get into the first dress, with the help of the servant, who had put the dresses onto the bed.
As she went through the dresses, the king would comment on each of them, until she was on the last one. As Mary-Kae stepped out from behind the screen, James gasped in astonishment. The dress that presented her body beautifully. It was a wonderful silver-blue colour, with sparkling diamonds around the collar and waist, and glistening rubies, emeralds, sapphires and opals what appeared to be plaited in to the magnificent dome skirt.
'You look incredible, my dear.' The king told her happily, 'so good in fact, that I think you should wear it tomorrow when you ride with me in my carriage.'
'W-w-with you?' asked Mary-Kae, suddenly sitting down on the bed behind her with some force.
'Why of course my dear, but first I believe we should get properly aquatinted.' The king smiled warmly at the stunningly beautiful girl opposite him, and barked; 'Maid! Leave us at once, and tell Deltfort that we are only to be disturbed in an emergency. Go!'
'Of course sire, as you wish sire. Anything else sire?' stuttered the poor maid, stumbling as she tried to curtsy and back out through the door at the same time.
'No that will be all. Shut the door.' Called the king over his shoulder to the poor maid, who had blushed so much that her entire face had turned an interesting shade of beetroot. Mary-Kae was thankful that she had meditated over her self-control, for she felt that otherwise she would have found herself laughing at the poor girl.
The king's gaze returned fully onto Mary-Kae as the maid shut the door behind her. The king looked her up and down, and looked at her like she was a hopeful light at the end of a particularly long dark tunnel. Then he sighed. It was a sigh like the last slow, woeful breath, of a good, happy man, that everyone was mourning over.
'My dear.' Murmured the king sadly, 'come here, I wish to confide in you, as I cannot trust anyone else here at this time.'
Mary-Kae cautiously walked over to him, a shadow of doubt flickering in her eye.
James saw it. His eyes narrowed at an alarming rate. He pushed the girl back onto the bed. She landed with a bump, and a small cry of astonishment.
'You do not trust your own king!' James whispered furiously to her. He smirked as he saw the flickering of fear in her eyes, but let the smirk slip from his face as he saw anger and defiance fill them instead.
'What reason do I have to trust you?' Mary-Kae asked him, standing up to look him in the eye. 'Not all kings are saints, and not all women are useless!' She cried.
She stormed over to the door, and gripped the door handle firmly. Just as she started to turn it, the king flew an arm across her stomach, pulling her back against him.
'You have proof of that last statement, my dear?' he asked her. Mary-Kae's eyes snapped open and she stopped struggling against his grasp.
'Yes.' She whispered. 'Yes I have proof.' James raised an eyebrow, and turned her round to face him.
He was aghast at the amount of courage, love, hatred and self-sacrifice that somehow managed to swirl in and around her eyes.
'Me.' She said coldly.
-
In 2004, Buffy Summers awoke.
She looked round her bedroom, scared and panting, breathless.
'Whoa.' She said. She thought back to the dream which had just awoken her.
'So she was a slayer, huh?'
Hey, this was only something I thought up, and linked it as a slayer. Thus the Buffy connection. There's no real time this is set in, try and guess if you like. Let me know what you think of it. Please review, thanks for reading, naioka1992 - xoxo